Seymour Pierce

A disparate set of stock picks springs from the team at Seymour Pierce this month. According to analyst Charles Kernot, AIM-quoted Hambledon Mining is ‘ready to rock’. It is pushing ahead with developments at the Sekisovskoye gold mine in Kazakhstan, with first gold production forecast for six months’ time. Hambledon envisages initial output of 40,000 oz per year, hoping to build this to 100,000 oz over the next two years. Currently trading at 16.25p, the broker values the shares at 33p and maintains its buy recommendation.

AIM’s Leyshon Resources, headed by former Murchison United boss Paul Atherley, has announced ‘excellent metallurgical recoveries’ at its Zheng Guang gold project in Heilongjiang Province, northeast China. Initial results show that 93 per cent of gold, 95 per cent of silver and 98 per cent of zinc can be apparently recovered into a flotation concentrate using a ‘relatively course primary grind’. The company is also looking at the possibility of a processing route ‘for the oxidised mineralisation that occurs as a surface blanket’. Kernot still rates Leyshon a buy.

Lastly, interactive entertainment concern YooMedia is a buy, despite reporting losses of £6.5 million for 2005 on a forecast loss of £5.7 million. Net debt of £5 million was expected and realised, forecast to increase to £7.5 million at the end of 2006. A positive outlook statement announced steps to ‘reposition the business’ with a view to achieving positive maiden profit before tax of £1.6 million in 2007, assuming that the dating division is not sold or spun off before the end of the year. The shares fell to 3.25p after results and trade on a forward multiple of 10.8 times.